Fast X (2023)

The Fast movies aren't really known for the quality of film making, their character development, or even their logic. It's all just all the lowest form of spectacle and I guess the absurdity is the point. So as the franchise reaches it's planned peak, they have just thrown as much big dumb action at the screen, as many actors as they can find (even many we thought were dead or gone), and as many explosions as they can set off, and hope it all sticks. I do think fans of the series will eat it up but for anyone who hasn't drunk the kool-aid Fast X is so much garbage it becomes a total slog. 

Fast X is dumb. Capital D dumb. The plot is silly requiring multiple unbelievable coincidences and the most cliched and thin of motivations. The dialogue is atrocious to the point of eye rolling. The performances are sad. I don't care how many Oscar winners they throw into this mess you can't turn Vin Diesel into a good actor, nor most of this franchise's main cast. The film tries to have gravitas but it all falls so flat you want to giggle watching Dom talk about "family". Even many of the special effects felt cheaply done. It really is a big hate watch kind of of movie where the pleasure comes from just how bad it can get. I get that spins some people's wheels but those kinds of films slam stall for me.

But there is one redeeming quality: Jason Mamoa. He rips this movie apart, giving a tour de force performance that is as entertaining and satisfying to watch as the rest of the film is overwrought and draining. His character is like nothing we've seen him do before and he creates something delightful here that you just want to watch more and more of. It is rare you find such an outstanding role in such an otherwise terrible film. He really made the whole thing watchable. I found myself rooting for his character even if his plot and motivations were as thin and cliche as the rest of this series. Can he kill Dom in the next film and take over the franchise, please? That's probably something I would watch. 

Fast X

Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Mamoa, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Sung Kang, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, Jordana Brewster, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Joaquim de Almeida, Pete Davidson, Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson

Director: Louis Leterrier

Writers: Dan Mazeau, Justin Lin